Stephen Curry out for Miami Heat game with ankle injury

OAKLAND -- Warriors point guard Stephen Curry was ruled out for Wednesday's game against visiting Miami thanks to a sprained right ankle.

"It was really a freak injury," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. "We don't do much in shootaround -- (he was) just chasing after a loose rebound. It's unfortunate. We will shut him down. He'll get treatment and we'll see where he goes." Jarrett Jack will start in Curry's place. The Warriors acquired Jack from New Orleans in the offseason for this very reason.

Curry injured the ankle at shootaround on Wednesday morning after landed on the foot of rookie center Festus Ezeli. X-rays came back negative. His return will be based on how his right ankle progresses, a Warriors official said.

The Warriors get Thursday off before playing at San Antonio (Friday) and New Orleans (Saturday). Golden State will host the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday and Oklahoma City on Wednesday.

Safe to say Golden State will need Curry, as three of those would be tough even with a healthy Curry. Several of his teammates did not seem too worried. Neither did his coach.

"I'm not a doctor," Jackson said, "but I can't imagine it turning into something more. I'm not going to get into timetables and all of that. We're not concerned."

Curry's ankle has been a non-issue the first 36 games of the season. But for most of the last two years, it has been a cloud hanging over his career.

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He sprained the same ankle multiple times in the 2010-11 season, prompting surgery in May 2011 to repair torn ligaments. But that didn't prevent multiple sprains during the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season.

Curry had another surgery in April 2012 on his right ankle. And after months of rehab, he returned to action in time for training camp. He showed enough progress for the Warriors to ink him to a four-year, $44 million contract extension.

But save for minor, normal tweaks here and there, which he's played through, his right ankle had been holding up. He's one of only four players in the NBA averaging at least 20 points, six assists and four rebounds. The other two are Miami's LeBron James and Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook.

Without Curry, Golden State's offense is noticeably less potent. In the Warriors' last game against Miami, the defending champs focused their attention on stopping Curry, which opened up the floor for everyone else and keyed Golden State's road upset.

Even though Jack is starting, Jackson will also have to adjust how he finishes games. He usually plays Jack at the point with Curry and guard Klay Thompson on the wings (and David Lee and Carl Landry as the big men). But Curry's absence will probably mean crunch time minutes for rookie forward Harrison Barnes, who usually gets squeezed out in Jackson's three-guard lineup to end the game.

"It will be a feel or a flow," Jackson said. "I've very confident in my guys. Harrison has been playing extremely well. I don't know who will close the ballgame(s). The game will dictate that."